


making the most of a shitty situation

by watyonameisgurl



Series: Problematic Fics [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Drabble, M/M, but it's a mostly happy domestic ziam kidfic/ficlet i promise, mentions of cheryl/chiam, mentions of surrogacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 04:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13779237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watyonameisgurl/pseuds/watyonameisgurl
Summary: Cheryl hadn’t even wanted an actual pregnancy. Was content with the plan to fake it for headlines, leave people wondering is she or isn’t she.But Liam and Zayn had already been talking about kids for so long and the inevitability of being trapped in this whole relationship charade and carrying it on for possibly another five years after barely making it through the first torturous five had seemed agonizing. Especially knowing that there was really nothing in it for him.He and Zayn were no strangers with making deals with the devil though so in the end that’s what they did...





	making the most of a shitty situation

**Author's Note:**

> don’t hate me for this y’all…  
> (actually fully hate me for this i deserve all the judgement lbr)
> 
> wrote this a couple months back but didn't want to post it cause i figured probably no one would wanna read it (and probably still won't) but now i'm just kinda like fuck it
> 
> takes place around december 2017 which is when i wrote it

 

Liam is exhausted. Not so much physically, but mentally, just coming off a nearly month long tour full of lies and more lies only for Zayn to have to go out and do more of the same. He knows he’s been reckless. Said and done, and even _worn_ things that he shouldn’t have. Things that he’ll probably have to make up for later once Zayn’s had his run but he doesn’t want to think about that now. Right now all he wants to focus on is the adorable scene he’s walked in on. His two boys, who he hasn’t seen in what feels like forever even though it’s only been a few weeks, in the kitchen. Zayn dancing and humming softly, their little boy wrapped up in his arms giggling and drooling over Zayn’s t-shirt.

“Hey, babe, welcome home,” Zayn says, smiling when he catches sight of Liam in the kitchen doorway. “Come join us.”

Liam waltzes over to them with a grin, heart feeling two sizes too big for his chest as he presses a kiss to both their cheeks, ignoring his phone vibrating in his pocket as Zayn passes their little boy, who’s already reaching out for Liam, easily over to him.

Liam could care less about the what the person on the other end of the line has to say right now, knows who it is without even looking because he just hung up on her not two minutes before he walked in the door when she’d called to chew him out over the shirt he wore on his most recent pap walk disguised as a routine outing and he just doesn’t have the energy to deal with her right now. Not when he’s got his two beautiful boys right in front of him and the amazing smell of homemade Korean BBQ wafting from the stove.

To be fair though it’s not always like this. Liam gets along with Cheryl well enough most of the time. She has her moments but for the most part they can be civil. It’s just she has a tendency to get so hung up on little things, so passive aggressive and it’s fucking exhausting trying to deal with it all on top of everything else. It’s worth it though, even when things are at their worst, it’s worth it for moments like these. Their son in his arms, Zayn grinning over at them as he turns the burner down on one of the pots and declares it done. Follows it up with a joke about how the baby might actually be earning his nickname as much as everyone—especially Safaa and Waliyha—cuddles him like a little teddy bear and Liam can’t help laughing.

The bear thing had been a joke, that’s how the initial idea had started out. It’s not his real name, of course, but Liam and Zayn had been laughing and joking one night shortly before he was born about a year ago now, reminiscing over all the bear references throughout the years and how the fans think they all have some sort of obsession with bears and Zayn had jokingly said, “What if we called him Bear?”

Liam had laughed until he snorted, Zayn dissolving into giggles on the bed beside him.

“Oh God, can you imagine?” Liam eeked out between laughs, wiping tears from his cheeks.

“I _know_ , the fans would have a fucking field day,” Zayn said muffled into his shoulder where his face was pressed trying to contain his own giggles, “Not to mention the media, they’d go ape shit!”

“Christ, the headlines! ‘Sorry all you rainbow bear fans but there’s only room for one bear in Liam’s life!’”

“‘Move over Bear Grylls, there’s a new Bear in town!’” Zayn added, dissolving into giggles again and shaking his head. “God, it’d be _mental_. The best part though is the fans who know about us will know it’s fake right away, plus we’ll get to have a good laugh at all the jokes they make. Make the most of a shitty situation like we’re always saying, you know? I mean, they’ll know there’s no way you’d ever name your kid Bear just as much as they know you’d never willingly date Cheryl of all people.”

Zayn had made a face, wrinkling his nose, and Liam nodded, still grinning before he sighed. “Christ, but Cheryl would never go for it though. You know how pissed she already is that people aren’t buying this whole relationship thing, the last thing she’d want is to give even more people reason to make fun of her.”

Zayn shrugged. “She would if you sell it to her. Think about it. If it’s headlines she wants it’ll definitely be sensational. Plus she doesn’t even really know about all the bear stuff with the band. It’ll be a laugh. We can make it into a game, see how much shit you can say that doesn’t make sense that still gets printed and then laugh our arses off about it.”

“I don’t know…” Liam had said, a little unsure, but Zayn’d had that twinkle in his eye. that mischievous look he always used to get when he and Louis were up to something, some sneaky prank they were setting up to pull on someone and Liam never could say no to him.

 _Make the most of a shitty situation_.

That’s basically become their motto these days. It’s how they ended up where they are now trying to be the most fulfilled that they can in this fucked up mess.

Cheryl hadn’t even wanted an actual pregnancy. Was content with the plan to fake it for headlines, leave people wondering is she or isn’t she. But he and Zayn had already been talking about kids for so long and the inevitability of being trapped in this whole relationship charade and carrying it on for possibly another five years after barely making it through the first torturous five had seemed agonizing. Especially knowing that there was really nothing in it for him. He and Zayn were no strangers with making deals with the devil though so in the end that’s what they did. Figured if they were going to be made to suffer through five more years of this bullshit it was only fair they get something too. Something they’d already wanted for so long but couldn’t have unless it was under the guise of the crap they were meant to sell, which really was nothing new.

Stories about each other cleverly punctuated with references like ‘my girlfriend’ or ‘my missus’ were already par for the course by then so talking about ‘Bear’s mum’ knowing that people would immediately make the reference to Cheryl and not who he really meant was nothing new. Even if it did still hurt in a completely new and different way than saying Cheryl or Sophia or Danielle instead of Zayn did.

But moments like these make up for it all. Make up for all the tear-filled breakdowns and angry explosions over the endless parade of this whole bullshit dog and pony show they’re both caught up in. The awful headlines—the ones they can’t joke over—and staged photo ops and rehearsed lines, the hateful comments shouted from the sidelines of what was supposed to be a routine pap walk, and then echoed all over the internet. The knowledge that he’s constantly lying to everyone. To the media, to the fans, to the _world_.

If all of it has led up to _this_. This beautiful boy in his arms, little chest fluttering against his own, tiny fingers gripped tight to his t-shirt because Liam hasn’t been home in what feels like so long and he’s missed Liam just as much as Liam has missed him, then it was all worth it because Liam would do anything to protect him. He’d do a million stunts and tell a million lies and whatever else he had to do if it meant protecting this beautiful little boy of theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> shirt in reference was [the matching white fear of god shirt btw](https://yaz-the-spaz.tumblr.com/post/168830460473/25746591-ziam)


End file.
